Contests – Dream to win a mega – gazillion – problems with contests
One of my hobbies is contests – gives me the chance to dream about winning the mega-gazillion. Contests can give you a chance to dream.
My time I spend on contests focus on two areas. The areas are:
* The Balance Everyday
(the link no longer works)
* Publishers Clearing House
https://www.pch.com/
I will describe in one Blog post the Balance Everyday web site and another Blog post Publishers Clearing House web site. My contest hobby been these two websites – so I cannot describe other contest areas on the Internet. Had no problems myself with these two websites. I would like to make you aware of some of the problems that can occur with contests.
This Blog post will focus on some of the problems that contests may have – problems like:
* Fraud
* Lose your money (Be careful paying to enter a contest)
* Computer viruses – possible to get a computer virus by visiting a computer web page; some ideas to deal with computer virus is back up your stuff and anti-viruses software
* Hassles contacts
* Waste of time – enter fake contests and never win anything
* False hope – during times when I had financial difficulties, thought contests could be the “answer” – I think contests are fun – do not assume contests to be your “answer” towards financial distress
If you are under financial distress, look at social services groups that may be able to help you, one social service is the United Way – the United Way has a phone service called 211 – you can call 211 – and be connected to a local service agencies that can be helpful to you (this applies for people in the United States; not sure about other regions)
For details look at
https://www.unitedway.org/our-impact/featured-programs/2-1-1
* Not Winning Anything – legitimate contests can have odds making it difficult to win anything
You may enter contests and become frustrated with not winning anything – some ideas
* Entering contests with smaller prizes (idea from the Balance Everyday web page) – you may increase the odds of winning by focusing on contests that you win smaller prizes
* Focus on how much time you enter contests – I will focus on how much time I enter contests; Ideally, I want to enter contest where I can dream winning but not spend so much time entering contests I get frustrated. I vary in how much time I enter contests (can vary from half hour each day to enter contests to one time every few months)
For information about possible problems with contests, you can look at
Federal Trade Commission
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/fake-prize-sweepstakes-lottery-scams
Contests are a way to dream winning the mega – gazillion. Contests can create problems for people. Next few blogs posts focusing on contests will describe the contests on the Balance Everyday web page and Publishers Clearing House web page.
Add on (July 20, 2019)
Corrections to the above web blog – should mention never had any problems with the Balance Everyday or Publishers Clearing house – so change sentence to “Had problems myself with these two websites” to “Had no problems myself with these two websites” – left out the word No. Amazing how one word left out can change the meaning of a sentence.
Also wanted to mention that the United Way 211 service applies to people in the United States; not sure about other regions.
Added this correction section to mention that while try to get everything correct; sometimes read stuff later find had it wrong – so always writing, learning and growing.
I made these corrections in the original Blog post
Thanks for reading.